Sweet as Bro...

flies fly as time flies

xocolata — Fri, 4 Jul 2008 20:07:00 GMT

it's crazy. when you first move to a new country you have this huge amount of time stretched out before you, everything is new and exciting and you think you have heaps of time to do everything you want. you spend money like hell just to have a good time. then eventually reality kicks in. you notice that not everything is just as great as you imagined and aditionally: your money starts running out. you start to settle down and lead a normal life. and then - without any notice - your time is up. you will be flying home in 3 days. where did time go? and when did you actually start LIVING in this country, not just STAYING? you pass buildings, people, trees, noting that you will only see them a few times more. you start realizing that there are still heaps of things right at your doorstep, that you never managed to do, like going to the hamilton gardens or the waikato museum. new people are coming, starting exactly at the same spot you were a couple of months ago, but now it seems like years. you feel so much more grown-up, experienced, and somehow detached. that is not your world anymore, you already left it behind, looking forward to something new.

you will miss certain people, you'll make promises to visit, and you get promises to visit you, knowing that in very few cases it actually works out. if it does, it's great, but never as it was when you actually lived together, shared a life, friends, drinks, ideas, experiences. i am sad. sad to leave, sad that it's over. again. and happy. happy that something new is coming up. new people, new countries, and eventually: i am going home. home, like HOME. to family and friends. i am so excited.

finally.

xocolata — Sat, 31 May 2008 14:43:00 GMT

it is done: i changed my flights. i am so excited! i will leave new zealand on the 7th of july, going to sydney. leaving sydney the 11th of july, flying to bangkok. then: 3.5 weeks in thailand!!! that means, i'll be back in germany the 6th of august. pretty good, right? so i'll hopefully get a bit of summer as well. it's so freakin cold here.

i am so glad it worked out, since everybody (even the travel agent) told me there are no flights in and out of australia during july and august. and i got one of the 3 (!!!) seats left going out of bangkok in august. crazy.

guys, i am soooo excited about seeing you again so soon. awesomeawesomeawesome.

and thailand... still can't believe it.

crazy.

contemporary maori?!

xocolata — Fri, 23 May 2008 16:11:00 GMT

except for our greeting on my first day at university and our trip to the pacific islands festival in auckland i didn't really experience the maori culture. although it is all around me. the uni stands on grounds that belong to a maori tribe, every sign is bilingual, there are carvings all over the uni buildings and of course there are offers to learn and experience the culture.

then finally last weekend i went to a noho marae, a overnight stay at a whare nui, a maori meeting house, in rotorua, together with about a hundred international students.

our visit took place in the formal maori tradition, starting with the karanga. when visitors enter the marae, the meeting place, the grounds where the whare nui stands, they are greeted by a woman who calls the karanga.he is the first voice to be heard and through this, she ignites the engagement process. a woman of the visitors will respond to that karanga. the cries exchanged by the women will credential those past and present, historical, present and spiritual events. once in the whare nui, the greeting process, the mihi, begins. first the host speaks, welcoming the visitors. during whaikorero (speechmaking) the orators make links between the ancestors and the living. the kaupapa, or purpose of the occasion, will be discussed, and general issues and concerns might also be aired. after the host spoke, the visitors answer, then the host speaks again. we also sang a song for them, they sang for us as well. then the hongi followed to end the greeting process.

all the visitors moved forward (male first) and exchanged the hongi. the hongi is a gentle pressing of noses, and signifies the mingling together of the sacred breath of life, making the two sides one.

then we ate and had workshops, the guys learned a haka, a traditional dance (very scary, haha) and we made poi balls, instruments that are used by maori women when they dance. we never got to learn to use them though, sadly.

later at night we went to a polynesian spa, hot pools with sulphur water. very smelly indeed, but sooo nice. one of the pools was very close to the lake, so you could sit there and see all the lights reflecting on the water.

the night then was horrible. we all slept in the whare nui together, which could have been fun. but: i couldn't sleep at all. about 40 people were snoring, i still suffered from my cold and at 6 in the morning the asians started to talk and take pictures of the sleeping, stepping on my matress all the time...

next day, after breakfast, we went to te puia, an area where they set up a traditional marae, houses where you could learn about weaving and carving, the maori culture and so on. the area also includes mud pools, geysirs and the sulphur smell is all around. and best of all: a kiwi house! i saw kiwis, finally! i didn't think they would be so big, actually. it was probably the best about the whole weekend.

yesterday i went to jamie's final presentation of her contemporary maori dance class. again we were greeted in maori, without understanding a word. it feels weird, when there was obviously made a joke, everybody is laughing, except for us, the international students. but slowly i get used to it ;-) the dances were amazing. traditional maori instruments and songs mixed with modern music, the same for the dance moves. it is amazing what they learned in only one to two semesters! i was sitting there, totally absorbed into what was happening on stage.

it is interesting to see how maori people hold on to their traditions and adjust them at the same time. they are so proud, it feels like a present or very special when you are allowed to share it with them.

my 3 months crisis is almost over. maybe it's because the sun shone the lust couple of days and my cough is almost gone. uni is soon finished and then i'll have my practicum at an intermediate school in town. next week i will go there for a first visit, i am so excited.

Gallery: maori experiences

xocolata — Fri, 23 May 2008 14:13:00 GMT

the 3-months-crisis

xocolata — Mon, 19 May 2008 00:31:00 GMT

it is true, it does exist: the fullblown crisis after 3 months. i had it in ireland, but i hoped i could survive new zealand without it. apparently not. my mood right now:

everything sucks.

it actually is nothing in particular, i just notice that i start missing more and more things here, and the constant thinking about it doesn't allow me to enjoy what makes my time here great. i met so many nice and interesting and fun people here and i so feel i do them wrong by wanting to leave. this feeling of guilt doesn't make it any better.

everytime i pick up my pen to take notes in class (if i go at all) i ask myself for what or whom i am doing all this actually. i don't have an answer, do i really wanna become a teacher? why don't i just drop everything and study art? why do i need to know about the prisoner's dilemma and what it has to do with the cold war, and why the hell did the ancient mariner shoot the albatross?! i want to live in a chivalric romance like gwenivere and launcelot instead of this cold and damp house without central heating and the water running down on every window. inside.

i want to wake up and have breakfast without having to put on 3 layers of cloths first. i want to taste real bread again. senseo coffee. i want to go to uni with people my age, not students that are younger than my own sister. i want to buy a soy latte without worrying that my account balance will have a minus in front of the numbers at the end of the month. i want to ride a bycicle again. i want want want.

i shouldn't be so ungrateful. i have the privilege to study at the end of the world, in a country that has beaches, mountains, sheep, cattle, glaciers, lakes, friendly people, ....... and still. i can't help it. right now, i feel locked up in a life that just doesn't feel right for me anymore. what i want instead? i can't tell.

i guess i just have to go on and see what happens. maybe, if i wake up tomorrow, the sun will be shining and everything will feel right again and make sense somehow. maybe. i hope.

random catch-up!

xocolata — Sat, 10 May 2008 13:16:00 GMT

i am sorry, i didn't keep up with this blog, but there was just too much going on and i didn't have time for anything. yesterday i finally handed in my last assignment for the next three weeks, deep beath. i also sorted out my practicum. of course i messed up and didn't sign into a special paper to do that. so i was busy running around campus, phoning people and getting signatures and finally i was able to add that paper and drop shakespeare, great! shakespeare was just too much work and we would have had to act a scene alone or in a group, and since all of the people in my tutorial are pretty, well... i just didn't wanna do it. so that's it! dropped the paper, won't have to go to the tutorials anymore and just do the lectures out of interest. best thing that could happen. except, that this paper will appear as failed on my account. maybe. we'll see.

next thing: my hair is finally dreaded. after i ran around for about a month with only 20-30 dreads i did the rest whenever i took a break from writing my papers. now i might have about 70 in total, we still need to count them ;-) i am not used to them yet. every morning when i look in the mirror i get a fright about this huge mass of hair on my head ;-)

what else? well, i am pretty broke after the south island trip, i don't know how i'll manage in australia. i might change my flights again and come back earlier, the problem is, that there's this world youth day in australia, so there are NO FLIGHTS the whole of august. crazy. maybe i'll be back in july then ;-)

tonight we're having a flatparty (again, what shall i say?) for lucy, jenny's sister that moved in with us now. jenny and her are sharing jenny's room now and lucy will move into mine when i leave. that's pretty cool, the rent is going down and i have sb to take my room when i leave, so i don't have to worry about finding someone. and it doesn't really matter whether there are 7 or 8 people living here.

have to stop now, i am meeting with maike to go to town to get my boots fixed. i actually have wet feet all the time cause my heels are down after i walked the south island in them. haha. they were not made for that ;-)

btw, don't tell me about the great weather ur having in germany right now, here it is raining the whole time and it is soooo cold that i can actually see my breath while sitting in the lounge watching tv. crazy. i miss central heating. u guys don't know how lucky you are, seriously!

2 girls plus 2 backpacks minus a plan going around the south island

xocolata — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 20:26:00 GMT

ok, just quickly: i am on the south island right now, and it's awesome! jenny and i took the nightbus to wellington on sunday, crossed the cook strait on monday together with a bunch of cattle and then hitched (sorry, parents...) from picton to dunedin in two days, staying overnight in a backpackers in kaikoura. we had awesome rides, meeting interesting people on the way. best experience: a truck-driver, who we talked into taking us with him, nathan "nugget", loves drum and bass and polishes his truck every saturday for 8 hours. nice guy. ehenever we get stuck somewhere in nz we can call him and he gets us a truck nearby to pick us up ;-)

in dunedin (awesome town, prettiest i've seen so far) we stayed at dave's, a friendfrom uni. we watched albatrosses and penguins and sealions, then went to queenstown together. queenstown was quite an experience, 2 of our friends got beaten up by some guys, just for the sake of it. cops, drunken people, blood, two german girls going hysteric, just great. but, nobody seriously hurt, it was aweful enough.

jenny and i rented a car in queenstown, a nissan bluebird that we called hugo. nice guy, took us to wanaka and now to the glaciers. we slept in the car, to save money, but jenny was freezing the whole night. i wasn't, so i might do it again and then sneek into the hostels with jenny to get my showers. actually, right now i am in a backpackers, but i paid for a bed ;-)

it's just soooo expensive, my money is just blowing out of my hands! nevertheless, it's worth every cent. nature is breathtaking, i don't know how to describe it. i am taking tons of pictures, so i'll share that with you guys when i'm back in hamilton.

would love to hear from you all, hows everything going?

time's running out, so, bye!

Gallery: northland

xocolata — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 12:56:00 GMT

Ahipara, Kaitaia, Shipwreck Bay, 90 Mile Beach, Cape Reinga, Spirits Bay, Doubtless Bay, Taipa, Mangonui, Matauri Bay, Paihia, Waitangi, Kerikeri, Kawakawa, ...

"pardon?" - "...nothing."

xocolata — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 12:50:00 GMT

this easter weekend jenny and i had an awesome time going to the northland. kingston, our nearly-flatmate, took us up with him and we stayed at his parents house. they own a farm in ahipara, very close to 90 mile beach. standing on the deck you could hear (and see) the ocean. kingston says it's this sound that he misses most in hamilton. he's right. i could sit there for ages, smoke a cigarette and just listen.

there's not much up there north if you're up for high life, but many posibilities for "recreational activities" - my favourite word now ;-)

kingston drove us around, pretty much being afraid the whole time we could get bored, but no worries: i enjoyed every minute. poor jenny had problems with her eyes, so she couldn't come surfing on friday, so it was just kingston and me. it was freezing in the ocean, cause the breeze was so could and there were hardly any waves, we had to wait for sets to come in. i stood up about three or four times before kingston couldn't feel his toes anymore and i was shaking with cold. but i am definitely hooked! maybe this weekend we go to raglan, rent a board and just try it again and again.

that night we had to take jenny to the hospital, cause what use is it to go sightseeing when u can't see? the doctor was really nice, he worked in germany for the nato and was absolutely in love with jenny's teeth ;-) he even got another doctor to have a look at it. on the sheet jenny got of him stating what she suffers from he put down: "no fillings! patient comes from south germany, must be because they fluoridise the water there" it had nothing to do with her eye infection, but he put it down anyways. very funny.

saturday night we cooked for kingston and his family. well, we liked it, kingston's nine-year-old niece skye liked it, but let's better not talk about the rest. poor guys. i'll definitely not try that again...

sunday jenny and i took a bus tour up to cape reinga, and kingston finally had some time without the german chicks around. it was good to see all these places, but i guess it was the last time i took a bus tour like that. you only get ten or so minutes in one place, just enough to breeze in twice, take five pictures and be able to say: "i've been there". definitely nothing for me. i want to get a feel for the places, take my time to take everything in, dig my toes in the sand, close my eyes and feel the ocean breeze. at cape reinga we met max and two other american guys as well as lauren and rebekka. nz really is a village. even in the farfar north you meet people!

monday we drove back down the east coast, stopping at beautiful bays and historic sites, just look at the pics ;-) i even got to drive, cause kingston was tired and had a headache. my first time left lane driving! i was sooo tense the whole time, constantly fearing i'll break kingston's car. jenny kept telling me to keep right, and then it even started to rain. worst conditions ever. but after a while i got used to it and it is actually fun to have the stick on the wrong side. i kept switching on the wipers instead of the indicator cause they are the other way around here...

it was really an amazing weekend. i can't decide what was the best part. maybe when the 4wd was not there and we took the quad and a trailer to be able to take the surfboards down to the beach. kingston drove, jenny and me on the trailer holding the boards on the bumpy ride over the farmland. jenny said she felt like she was 16 again. yes right, since we are sooooo old already ;-)

things i learned:

- girls wearing bikinis: tourists

- girls wearing boardshorts and shirt over bikinis: locals

- guys stopping the car and staring at girls in bikinis: locals

- having the munchies: being hungry

- driving through a river: go with the flow

- 90 mile beach is an official road: u can get ticketed

- hundertwasser died in new zealand

- driving over opossums is fun

- 90 mile beach is not 90 miles long

- to pelican: to vomit into a girls' mouth while kissing

in da hood

xocolata — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 18:05:00 GMT

well, i actually don't know how describe what i experienced this weekend. we made a trip to auckland, but a very special one. we (that's jamie, maike, jenny, mo and i) started friday noon from hamilton, te rapa road. right, we hitched up to auckland. anyone who wants to try that, too: it worked perfectly fine! mo, maike and i got a ride after 5 minutes, jenny and jamie waited for 10 minutes. the guy who took us buys furniture off trademe, refurbishes it and sells it for 10 to 20 times the price he paid for it... seems to be a pretty good idea, especially as he makes up stories about the furniture to make every piece unique. sometimes he uses fake skandinavian names to make it even more appealing... (isn't that illegal?! - whatever)

he dropped us off at manukau shopping center, where we were picked up by jessie's cousin fritz. jessie lives with mo and maike and we where invited to stay at his homeplace over the weekend. so, this is a bit random: staying at a house with people you never met before and that just say yes to 5 foreign students staying over. jessie and his family are from samoa, a pacific island, and their hospitality was just overwhelming. we where welcomed and then taken out for dinner. they just invited us all! then naphier, jessie's sister, took us to a liquor store to get prepared for the night. naphier is awesome. she spent the whole weekend with us, driving us everywhere, showing us around and just being an amazing person. and she never met us before! jessie's mum put it like this: "you stay at our house and and so you are treated as family." and we really were. i really don't know how to describe it. people treating you with a kindness and openess that is immense. sharing their whole life with you, cooking for you, talking to you, sharing their culture with you. that is, we stayed in a part of auckland that tourists normally wouldn't visit, cause it is the part where the "islanders" live; maori, samoa, people from the pacific islands. we hardly saw white people there, actually, none, to be honest, and pretty much everyone stared at us as we got out the car. it can be dangerous down there and we were told not to walk around at night. this surrounding our wonderful time at naphier's.

friday night, after getting drunk in the garage (they have a whole garage set up for hanging out so the parents can sleep) we went out. had a great time, naphier again organising people to take us to the club. they are just so friendly!

saturday we went to the pacific island festival, where schools and colleges from auckland show songs and dances from the pacific islands. every island has an own stage, performing their specific songs and dances. at the same time it's a competition and the best performance is rewarded. the stages where surrounded by places where you could buy things from the islands and special food. of course fish and chips as well ;-) and again: very few white people there. jessie's mum said later that it might be because they have it every year and people are used to it. but i don't think that's the whole story. i was surprised how racist most people still are, i thought new zealand was a successful example for different cultures living together peacefully. well, there are still issues on both sides. saturday we went out in central auckland, not to a club but to a place where they had a live rock band. naphier later said that it was the first time for her to dance to rock music ;-) they really are into hip hop here... sunday, after a huge barbecue-lunch we left. naphier drove us to mission bay (beach close to central auckland) and then dropped us off in the city. we went shopping a bit and then, after not being able to catch a ride back to hamilton (who wants to go there, honestly...) we took the bus.

i really won't forget this weekend. i am still totally overwelmed. jessie's mum even gave everyone a samoan lavalava (similar to a pareo) she painted by herself. soooooo ... i can't find the right words. i think if more people were like that the world would really be a better place. i hope one day i can live up to this...

i'll put up pictures soon!

"the art of dieing well"

xocolata — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 20:12:00 GMT

this pretty much describes my day. i was confronted with death not only once, not only twice, but three times today. it started off with the police knocking on the door (omg, are they gonna raid our house for marihuana...?) and ask us if we had seen our neighbour recently. well, we had. yesterday he was mowing the lawn and there's washing on the line. so, i went to uni and then, when i was at lauren's, i got a message from julia that the old guy had died and had been dead for two weeks! but it was not the guy next door, it was an old man living in the house right at the corner, which i thought was abandoned cause the grass is really high and plants are growing in and out the windows. but he was living there, without power or water and the whole house is clustered with rubbish. so, this was really bugging me when i went to my shakespeare class. here it comes: today's topic: "the art of dieing well". all about death on stage and how they did executions in renaissance theatre aso. but not enough, afterwards i went to my tutorial and we had to perform doctor faustus. i was faustus. dead on the ground.

are that signs?! i hope not. scary.

mango power!

xocolata — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 18:37:00 GMT

omg, it's sooooo true! once u tried mangos here, u'll never wanna eat that shite again u get in tschöööörmänie (germany)! red and yellow on the outside (not green!) and soft and juicy and tasty inside... omg, what a heavenly taste...

wanna have another one RIGHT NOW!

Gallery: raglan

xocolata — Sat, 8 Mar 2008 21:51:00 GMT

raglan

xocolata — Sat, 8 Mar 2008 21:50:00 GMT

this is it: party outside, i'm in my room pretending to study (obviously...). remi, our new french flatmate is turning 26 tomorrow, so they're getting drunk at the moment, 3 different music styles blasting out of 3 different rooms, doors are all open and the whole crowd is on the deck. it's impossible to analyze "doctor faustus" under these circumctances ;-) whatever: i need a break now.

this morning we were supposed to go to rotorua, but the bus didn't show up. so jenny and me decided to go to raglan instead, and really had to hurry to get back home to get our bikinis and then hurry back to the bus (only one going in the morning and then only one going back in the afternoon... no comment on nz public transportation...) i was afraid jenny wouldn't make it, since she lives a bit further away than i do but somehow she was lucky again. this girl is just amazing. she found a bus stop right outside her door! (it had obviously been there all the time, she just didn't notice...) sooo... bumpy bus ride, and then: beach! water! sun! ice cream! i met one of my lecturers at a chip shop, totally random. he was buying sweets for his 2 cute little children. not enough that i have him twice a week in tutorials, with him knowing my name and referring to me the whole time, now i even meet him in my free time! but he's sweet as, last time he was late to class cause he hitched to university ;-) the other germans stayed quite close to raglan center, but jenny lauren and i took a walk along the beach, trying to find the way to manu bay. we never made it, though, but it was great anyway. feeling the hot, black sand burning your feet, the water washing the heat off and the wind blowing in your face. there were people along the beach fishing and kite surfing, even paragliding, but most of the time we had it all to ourselves. lauren said that if they had such a beach in the states, they would build houses all along the coastline and it would soon be crowded with people. luckily we're in nz, not in the u.s. ;-) i still didn't surf, but now my wish to learn it got even stronger. if i build a house sometime, far away in the future, it has to be next to the ocean. of that i am sure.

btw, i bought a new shower curtain, ours is mouldy all over, and vacuum bags. as soon as i finish my assignment i'll get that vacuumer up and running and then take it to places in the house it has never been to before... (i am afraid of what i might find on the way...)

gotta go now, beer must be cold by now and christopher marlowe can send his faustus to hell as many times as he likes, i am going out there now, to feed the lions...

mount maunganui beach

xocolata — Sun, 2 Mar 2008 20:53:00 GMT

i should be reading sth about the anne hutchinson trial in 1637 now, but nevermind. my thoughts keep drifting away the whole time, it's no use. actually i'm hungry, but the fridge is empty and i'm too lazy to walk the 5 minutes to the dairy and buy something. mb i'll get take away with jenny as soon as she gets here. yesterday i left hamilton for the first time - yay! as ina put it: "feels like the first trip out of prison". she's right. we all feel a bit stuck here right now. where's new zealand?

we kinda got a sense for that going to mount maunganui. we started early in the morning and i at least had no clue what the weather was going to be like. since it was a beach trip i put on sandals and short pants - big mistake. as soon as we got on the bus ("greenline" busses - anyone remember the course books from 5th to 8th grade?! thats it.) it started to rain. it didn't stop the whole day. first i got really angry - you know me, swearing and cursing and just being really pissed off - but after the first coffee in the "copa cabana" i felt better already. clothes still wet and all - whatever. make the best out of it! if u ever get to the "cabana" - try the baked potato or the quiche lorraine - awesome! fabian and ina went swimming in the ocean straight away, rain pouring down on them, and said that it was awesome, but we decided to go to the hot salt water pools first. the best thing to do if it rains and you're stuck at the bay of plenty, btw! so we sat in the steaming hot pools for hours and hours, the rain coming down all the time - sometimes more, sometimes less. after a while jenny, ina & co left to climb the mountain and the rest of us stayed. i'd have really liked to go with them, but not without proper shoes and raincoat. so i keep that for another day ;-) when the rain ceased we left the pools for a short while (that's possible - just walk out with your swimsuit and towel and later walk back in casually and nobody says anything) to go to the beach. and then i stood there, in front of the pacific ocean, wind blowing hard and huge waves rolling onto the shore. it was by far the most beautiful thing i've seen so far in new zealand. mo and i tried to run into the water, jump over a wave and then stand but it was just impossible. i got knocked over almost every time. the force was so strong that i felt very little compared to the ocean spreading out in front of me. i've always loved the sea for its massiveness, its infinity, its life and the magic it works upon me. by looking at it i feel my body shrinking and my mind expanding, reaching for the water and the sky at the same time, getting close to the whole universe.

we left at around 4.30h, and yes, then the rain stopped. i didn't care anymore. i was exhausted, but in a good way. but no time to relax - big concert on campus. the datsuns were playing, and it was awesome. we were dancing mad and mo and fabian tried to pogo, but kiwis just don't know how to do it. just as they don't know how to behave at a classical concert, clapping and cheering while u try to concentrate and lose yourself in the music...

gotta stop now, jenny's gonna be over any minute and i still have to follow poor anne hutchinson through her trial.

and i am sooooooo hungry........

buzzing flies...

xocolata — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 19:14:00 GMT

i am sitting in my room right now, flies buzzing around my head. i don't know why there are so many of them in nz. they are everywhere, totally annoying. yesterday at the kebab place they had a lamp that kills flies when they fly against it. the sound is awful, and depending on the size of the fly it was louder and longer or short and quick. it really puts you off eating. now i know why kiwis don't really clean their window sills - it's no use! they are all white with black dots on them. could be cute, if i didn't know it was flies' shit. i should take a picture some time, to show you ;-)

my room isn't that bare anymore, i put up pictures, mirror (very important ;-) ) and stuff is lieing around everywhere. mainly paper, books and beer boxes. hm, a bit kiwi-like... so i really feel home.

i just finished my second day at uni, and it's really easier than in germany. i only take 4 papers, one of them an online-one, and friday is my day off. so enough time to travel around, yay! people keep asking me how i like new zealand, but actually i didn't see a bit of it yet, just hamilton. i didn't have any time. but this weekend we go to mount maunganui beach and the weekend after to rotorua. maybe then i'll start getting a feeling for why people love this country so much. up till now i just love it for the sun, the friendly people, the craziness and the vegetables and fruit.

rugby+flatwarming=gr8 day...

xocolata — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 16:38:00 GMT

nz is just amazing. we missed the last bus (at 5 pm - imagine...) and tried to get a cab (like 30 other people who wanted to go to the rugby match) and somehow we ended up getting a free ride on a uni bus who took people from bryant hall (student dorm on campus) to town. we don't live in bryant hall except for lauren, my american friend from arizona, but whatever ;-) well, we got the tickets and then i saw my first real rugby match - nevermind the one i saw at trinity college in dublin. it was chiefs agains the waratahs, and the chiefs won. must have been the team colours - black, red and yellow, haha. i still don't know the rules, but it was fun anyway. first nz-must-do i can cross out on my list - i saw a real rugby match! afterwards we took the nightrider back to my place after buying beer at a liquor store on the way. what can i say?! there were three different house parties going on in my street, but we were definitely the loudest. i am sooo sorry i missed the fight where one guy's nose got broken, he was bleeding all over the house and kelly's sister put it back into place... there must have been 50 or 60 people around, all drinking heavily (it's like a popular sport here - who gets wasted first), it was just crazy. and there are more parties like that coming up. in april there are going to be 3, roger's graduation plus mine and jenny's birthday. don't know if i want to go through that whole cleaning-up thing so many times ;-)

tomorrow uni starts, i am still not sure about which papers i wanna do. i changed them 3 times already... luckily i have 2 weeks left to work that out.

the house is so quiet right now, it's strange. even the tv is turned off. it was a bit too much for everybody yesterday i guess. nevermind that they started drinking again this morning while we were cleaning up ;-)

Gallery: first days at versity

xocolata — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 21:33:00 GMT

"syphilis is coming down from auckland"

xocolata — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 19:37:00 GMT

it's half past nine, i am finally sitting in my bare room, feeling a bit lost and tired actually. at least the internet works, so i can keep myself busy and don't give in to my first night here in my new home. today was orientation day for international students. heaps of information about the uni, insurance, driving but a lot of fun as well. for example: whoever finishes his vegemate sandwich first gets all his books free the first year... gross, a bit like "i bet you will".

best bit of the whole day: health information. basically, it was about getting pregnancy tests for free in the health center, always use a condom or don't have sex at all and the best bit (you could tell the lady was having a blast talking about it) sexually transmitted deseases. that's where i got my title from. it's what she said: "syphilis is coming down from auckland". she also said "gonorhea is big in hamilton" ;-)

it was just plain awesome.

well, afterwards i moved. roger and riaan picked me up at the hostel, together with all my stuff and my 10$ matress i bought at the salvation army store. don't wanna know where it has been before and who slept on it, i think i'd be disgusted. but i don't care anymore. i'm quite used to it now, having been to ireland and spain.

i cleaned my room - no comment. water was black. just from the build-in wardrobe and door and wall. don't wanna think about what's lurking in the carpet. maybe i'll be eaten up by insects by tomorrow morning ;-)

maybe i should really join my new flatmates in the lounge in front of the tv. we have sky and a ps2, but no dryer or dishwasher... whatever.

i feel so tired, it was a bit too much today. maybe i'll have a lazy day tomorrow, hanging at jenny's pool the whole day. good idea.

gonna stop now, hope to hear from you soon since i've got broadband-inet 24/7 now ;-)

chers, birke

yippieyippieyeah!

xocolata — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 13:05:00 GMT

forget what i wrote this morning, it's all gone (sun is even shining):

I got a room!!!

in a flat together with 6 other ppl, 4 girls and 2 guys. flat's not the tidiest or nicest, but very close to uni and very cheap. just 75 NZ$ per week plus expenses. on saturday we're having a housewarming, meaning everybody invites all his friends and we party. sounds sooo great! few things i learned searching for a room:

1. carpet is nice, not bad, cuz it's warm in winter

2. wooden floor sucks

3. central heating?! what's that?!

4. nice outside - bad inside (just paint over the mould...)

5. pets and smokers are on the same level (hairy and smelly)--> jenny's favourite ;-)

so, i will try to get a matress somewhere, so i won't have to sleep on the ground, and then move out of this stupid hostel. ok, hostel is fine, really, maybe the best i've ever been in. so, if you get to hamilton one day: stay at "eagles nest". the tv is too noisy cause the old lady (owner of eagles nest) can't hear properly and it's on the whole day, but everything else is great. showers are clean and most important: have hot water 24/7 --> not that common!

but i am glad to move out finally. it's time to really start my student's life here. next important thing now: buying a car!